ON BASEBALL

ON BASEBALL; From Boondocks to Bigs, On a Slider and a Prayer

By Murray Chass

Published: July 13, 1999

BOSTON—
As he sat in a hotel ballroom filled with American League All-Stars yesterday, Jeff Zimmerman was in a unique position. Not Cal Ripken, not Derek Jeter or Bernie Williams, not Roberto Alomar or Rafael Palmeiro or John Wetteland or Ivan Rodriguez or Pedro Martinez could make the claim Jeff Zimmerman could.

He is the first graduate of the Northern League, an independent minor league, and the French National League -- yes, the league plays in France -- to be named to a major league all-star team. Oh, did we mention that he's Canadian, too?

''I was actually the first Canadian player,'' Zimmerman said yesterday, ''to win a French championship. That had been my claim to fame up until today.''

Zimmerman's claim to fame in reality is the 0.86 earned run average and .106 opponents' batting average he has produced for the Texas Rangers as the most effective setup reliever in the major leagues this year. Those numbers don't look real, but they represent his rookie performance and the reason Zimmerman, who two years ago was pitching in an independent league, will have a seat in the American League bullpen at Fenway Park tonight.

''This is not even a dream come true for me because it's just something I never dreamed of,'' Zimmerman, a 26-year-old right-hander, told a host of reporters. ''Maybe I dreamed of playing hockey in the N.H.L. I grew up in a real small town back in rural Alberta. This is just an amazing thrill for me. It's tough enough for me to imagine myself playing major league baseball, let alone having the success I've had so far this year and to find myself in the All-Star Game as a middle relief pitcher. It just blows me away. It's fantastic.''

His presence in Boston represented a great leap from the days when he resorted to sending his resume to all major league clubs and could not hire an agent to represent him.

''My brother had the Hendricks agency in Houston,'' Zimmerman said, referring to his brother, Jordan, a reliever with the Seattle Mariners. ''I talked to them, hoping they'd represent me, but they didn't want to give me the time of day.''

Zimmerman comes from the farming community of Carseland, a town of 500 with an elementary school but no traffic lights. ''If you blink, you might miss it,'' he said. The area offered so few baseball opportunities that when he and Jordan were teen-agers, their parents arranged games with American Legion teams as far as an eight-hour drive away in the United States.

Jeff Zimmerman became more mainstream when he attended Texas Christian University, but his efforts in two seasons there did not attract even one major league club. He went undrafted and contented himself playing for the Canadian national team in international tournaments. It was that experience that led him to France.

''I had a pitching coach from Team Canada who coached in France,'' he said. ''It was a good opportunity to go and work with him, develop some pitches and experience another culture and another country.''

The 1994 season in France was crucial to Zimmerman's development. That was where he mastered the slider that leaves A.L. hitters muttering and shaking their heads.

''The competition was about on the level with junior colleges in the United States,'' he said. ''I was able to experiment a little bit. I could throw the slider and not worry about getting hurt on it. If I got into situations where I fell behind, I could just throw three fastballs by the guy.''

His season on the shores of the Mediterranean left Zimmerman with a terrific slider, but it eventually became a source of jokes among his Texas teammates.

''I get teased about that a lot, especially by veteran guys like Mike Morgan,'' Zimmerman said. ''He's always ribbing me, telling me he's going to go over there in the off season and try to pick up a slider. He said if I could find one, he could find one.''

The slider, Zimmerman said, is not comparable to ones thrown by pitchers like David Cone, John Smoltz and Kevin Brown. But, he said, ''I have a herky-jerky, funky delivery, and that might hide my slider a little better. It might be a little more deceptive.''

Wetteland, the Rangers' closer, said Zimmerman's motion made his slider ''difficult to pick up and identify as a slider.''

Zimmerman played professionally for the first time in 1997 as a starter with the Winnipeg Gold Eyes of the Northern League, going 9-2 with a league-leading 2.82 e.r.a. It was after that season that he sent out resumes telling clubs who he was and how he had developed slowly but was improving each year.

The Rangers, seeking players to fill out a new Class A minor league team, were the only club to respond, but they signed him and made him a reliever, and Zimmerman advanced rapidly. Last year at Class A Charlotte and Class AA Tulsa, he was a combined 5-2 with nine saves, a 1.28 e.r.a. and 81 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings.

Wetteland said Zimmerman got his attention in spring training this year when he struck out five batters in a two-inning appearance against the Yankees. The rest of the league has since witnessed what Scott Brosius, Rickey Ledee, Chad Curtis, Joe Girardi and Derek Jeter experienced that day.

In 35 games and 52 1/3 innings, Zimmerman has struck out 46, walked 11, allowed 18 hits (only one home run, by Paul O'Neill) and gained eight victories against no defeats. It earned him a rare All-Star spot for a reliever who isn't a closer.

Recounting his flight to Boston with his All-Star and Ranger teammates, Rafael Palmeiro, Wetteland and Rodriguez, Zimmerman said: ''It was the first time I've ever flown first class. We're taking up the entire first-class cabin. I said I can't believe I'm playing on the same team as these guys, let alone going to the same All-Star Game as these guys to represent the Texas Rangers. It was just amazing.''

Then he added, ''I'm glad I have three other teammates to come to the All-Star Game with me because I might be intimidated coming here myself, trying to talk with Cal Ripken or Derek Jeter or stuff like that.''

It has been Zimmerman, though, who has been doing the intimidating this season.